<"How do you distinguish between a reason and an excuse? Determinism says that understanding that there are reasons why people do things, and that these reasons are the cause of their behavior, you can't blame them for the behavior (have to excuse it).">


I agree with this to a point but I also do not at the same time. A reason could be a conscious or unconscious decision which leads to a particular behavior. Can we excuse someone who decides to molest their child because they were molested as a child? No. I do not believe there is any excuse for a conscious behavior simply because there is always more than one choice. Some people just make the wrong one.


<"When you say someone made a conscious
choice, are you assuming that they could have chosen otherwise (libertarianism) or that their choice was necessary and caused, yet still "free" in the sense that they consciously wanted to do it (compatiblism)?">

When someone makes a conscious choice, there is always another option besides the one that was chosen. Always. I don't need to assume this, it's fact. Does a convicted criminal that is going to jail have more than one option? Yes. 1.)They could kill themselves to avoid jail OR 2.)If they haven't gone to jail already, they could flee. OR 3.)Alternative choice.